A near-naked woman lies on the ground. Above her head a halo hovers like a smoke ring. Near by a hooded figure sits, plate, chalice and rosary beads by his side. In the distance vultures gather. In the foreground a large bracelet is half buried in the sand.
The two characters are from a novel, called Hypatia, by Charles Kingsley, published 1853. Kingsley's first historical novel about the religious politics of fifth century Alexandria, the dreadful climax of which has Hypatia, the brilliant and beautiful Neoplatonist 'pagan' philosopher, stripped and torn to pieces by a fanatical mob of Christian monks.
Pelagia and Philammon are sister and brother, separated in childhood. Philammon becomes a monk, Pelagia a dancer and courtesan. They are reunited in Alexandria only to be separated in the chaos following Hypatia's murder. Twenty years later, Philammon, now Abbot of his monastery, goes in search of his sister. Pelagia meanwhile has become a Christian hermit in the desert. She has given away all her finery except for 'one bracelet of gold, of large size and strange workmanship, engraven with foreign characters, which no one could decipher.'
Philammon finds his sister at the point of death and administers the holy sacraments to her. Later, a search party from the monastery discover their dead Abbot lying next to his sister in a shallow grave. The bodies had been guarded by two lions who kept the vultures at bay until the grave could be filled in. 
Arthur Hacker (1858-1919) studied at the Royal Academy and in Paris. He was 29 when he exhibited Pelagia and Philammon, his first serious painting of the nude figure. He had by this time travelled widely in France, Italy, Spain and - an especially relevant source for this picture - in Algeria and Morrocco. The vultures were studied at London Zoo.
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